5.  The applicant was born in 1954 and lives in Łańcut.
6.  The applicant is married with two children. Prior to her application for an early-retirement pension she had been employed since 1974 and paid social security contributions to the State.
7.  On 30 March 2001 the applicant filed an application with the Rzeszów Social Security Board (Zakład Ubezpieczeń Społecznych) to be granted the right to an early-retirement pension for persons raising children who, due to the seriousness of their health condition, required constant care, the so-called “EWK” pension.
8.  Along with her application for a pension, the applicant submitted, among other documents concerning her daughter’s health condition, a medical certificate issued by a specialist medical centre on 27 March 2001. The certificate stated that the child (born in 1990) suffered from atopic skin and asthma and that she was in need of her parent’s constant care.
9.  On 12 June 2001 the Rzeszów Social Security Board (“the SSB”) issued a decision granting the applicant the right to an early‑retirement pension in the net amount of 512 Polish zlotys (PLN).
10.  On 16 May 2002 the Rzeszów Social Security Board asked the Main Social Security Board’s doctor (Główny Lekarz Orzecznik) to inform it whether the applicant’s daughter required the permanent care of a parent. On 11 June 2002 the doctor stated that, on the basis of the medical documents, the child could not be considered as ever having required such care.
11.  On 17 June 2002 the Rzeszów Social Security Board issued simultaneously two decisions in respect of the applicant. By virtue of one decision, the payment of the applicant’s pension was discontinued with immediate effect. By virtue of the other decision, the Board reopened the proceedings, revoked the initial decision granting a pension and eventually refused to grant the applicant the right to an early-retirement pension under the scheme provided for by the Cabinet’s Ordinance of 15 May 1989 on the right to early retirement of employees raising children who require permanent care (Rozporządzenie Rady Ministrów z dn. 15 maja 1989 w sprawie uprawnień do wcześniejszej emerytury pracowników opiekujących się dziećmi wymagającymi stałej opieki) (“the 1989 Ordinance”).
12.  The applicant appealed against the respective decisions divesting her of the right to an early-retirement pension. She submitted that she should receive the benefit because her child required constant care, as confirmed by the medical certificate attached to the applicant’s original application for a pension. Moreover, the applicant alleged that the revocation of her retirement pension was contrary to the principle of vested rights.
13.  On 18 October 2002 the Rzeszów Regional Court (Sąd Okręgowy) dismissed the appeal. The Regional Court concluded on the basis of the evidence, including expert medical opinions, that while indeed the applicant’s child suffered from atopic skin and asthma she did not require her mother’s permanent care since her health condition did not significantly impair her bodily functions. The domestic court held that the applicant had been rightfully divested of her right to a pension under the scheme provided by the 1989 Ordinance as she did not satisfy the requirement of necessary permanent care.
14.  The applicant further appealed against the first-instance judgment.
15.  On 28 March 2003 the Rzeszów Court of Appeal (Sąd Apelacyjny) dismissed the appeal.
16.  On 8 April 2004 the Supreme Court (Sąd Najwyższy) dismissed the cassation appeal lodged by the applicant. The judgment was notified to her on 22 April 2004.
17.  Following the social security proceedings the applicant was not ordered to return her early-retirement benefits paid by the Social Security Board, despite the revocation of her right to an early-retirement pension.
18.  The applicant submitted that after revocation of the EWK pension she had been unemployed until June 2007, without a right to obtain any social benefits. Her little farm generated no income.
19.  The Government submitted that since 2007 the applicant has been employed. In 2007 she earned PLN 7,600 and in 2008 PLN 17,000. They also submitted that the applicant’s husband had been employed between 2003 and 2008 and afterwards received a disability pension. Moreover, the applicant’s adult son has been employed since 2001. The Government also submitted that the applicant owned a farm which may constitute an additional source of income for the family.
20.  In addition, the Government submitted information as regards the various types of social benefits available in Poland. However, they did not specify which of those benefits, if any, were available in the applicant’s situation.
21.  Under the relevant laws currently in force, it appears that the applicant will qualify for a regular retirement pension in 2014.
22.  Some 130 applications arising from a similar fact pattern have been brought to the Court. The majority of the applicants form the Association of Victims of the SSB (Stowarzyszenie Osób Poszkodowanych przez ZUS) (“the Association”), an organisation monitoring the practices of the Social Security Board in Poland, in particular in the Podkarpacki region.
23.  Out of all applications lodged with the Court, about twenty-four applicants decided not to lodge a cassation appeal against the judgment of the Court of Appeal given in their case.
24.  One hundred-and-four applicants lodged cassation appeals against the final judgments given in their cases. The Supreme Court entertained and dismissed on the merits fifteen appeals. In eighty-one applications the Supreme Court refused to entertain cassation appeals on the ground that they did not raise any important legal issues or require the Supreme Court to give a new interpretation to legal provisions which raised serious doubts or gave rise to ambiguity in the jurisprudence of the domestic courts. In the remaining eight cases cassation appeals were rejected for failure to comply with various procedural requirements.